Rowley: Weak Democratic Minds – A Case Study

A quick dispute within recent pages of the Providence Journal had executive director of the RI Democratic Party Jonathan Boucher taking issue with Ian Prior,the Northeast regional press secretary for the National Republican Congressional Committee, who had argued that a lack of Republican representation in the nation’s capital after the 2014 elections would not serve Rhode Island well.

It is becoming more and more likely that – largely due to the fact that the President and his party lied to the American people in order to make it possible for Obamacare to become law (not to mention anything about the utter disaster that it is) – the GOP will reclaim the Senate while also holding its majority in the House of Representatives.

“Assuming that the federal delegation remains intact after the 2014 elections, Rhode Island could well find itself with a complete loss of influence at the federal level,” Prior explained.

Annoyed with Prior’s analysis, Boucher argued, “At the end of the day, the mark of good legislators isn’t how many bills they pass into law but how well they represent their constituents and how hard they fight for their interests in Congress.”

Perhaps. But Boucher’s stance came only after he reminded Rhode Islanders that Democrats “currently control the U.S. Senate,” could very possibly “win back the House this November and maintain control of the Senate,” and will certainly “control the White House for another two years” – countering Prior by making the point that Republican legislators would be just as ineffective as Democratic legislators due to the partisan gridlock.

(Obama will, in fact, occupy the White House for another three years, not two. But, after learning exactly how they handled all those public pension systems during the past several decades, nobody expects RI Democrats to be able to perform basic math anymore anyway. Which includes – you know – counting.)

The larger point is this: Prior staked out a clear argumentative position. Boucher, arguing in liberal fashion, simply claimedallpositions – including a big-fat straw man that suggested that Prior had asserted that “all of our problems would be solved by replacing our delegation with a bunch of Republican freshmen.”

That is “absolutely ridiculous” and “completely absurd,” Boucher aggressively exclaimed – as he took issue with his imaginary debating partner.

You can rarely count on Democrats to dispute the things that Republicans actually say – or even to stay within the confines of a pointed topic. Boucher, the leader of the political party that is wholly responsible for Rhode Island’s grim condition, began his retort by censuring Projo editors for not informing their readers that Prior – openly writing as a professional Republican – was “also the campaign manager for Brendan Doherty…in 2012.” This “serious omission” made it more difficult “for readers to understand Mr. Prior’s motivations for writing such a column.”

Boucher thinks readers need to be told what the “motivations” of a Republican might be for desiring Republican victories. That is, in addition to just being a Republican.

Don’t laugh. By utilizing such mindless rhetoric, this twit will actually manage to win dozens of elections this fall.

Getting Just About Everything Wrong

An entire paragraph had gone by before Boucher finished his attempt at discrediting Prior, and moved on.

Readers everywhere wished they could somehow get that 90 seconds back.

The rest of Boucher’s response consisted of canned and boring Democratic talking points – unfortunately, the type of pap that is likely to resonate with many Rhode Island voters.

“The House Republicans’ failure and inability to govern caused the first government shutdown in 16 years,” Boucher charged – reciting a popular media narrative, but nonetheless is pure sophistry.

Boucher continued, “The Republican leadership in the House has refused to address the issues that matter the most to Rhode Island, such as passing a jobs bill, extending unemployment benefits, raising the minimum wage, and passing comprehensive immigration reform.”

The problem, of course, is that during the past several years House Republicans have passed dozens of “jobs bills” – albeit nothing that would involve any more wealth redistribution, such as “raising the minimum wage” (which is symbolic and inconsequential legislation at best, and job-destroying legislation at worst) or “extending unemployment benefits” for all the Rhode Islanders living in a Democratic wasteland marked by the highest unemployment rate in the country.

And we all know what Democrats mean by “comprehensive immigration reform.” Amnesty is the Left’s desire. That is, rewarding the illegal activity of non-citizens, thereby encouraging evermore migration of a population that is already having dire effects on the job market and local Rhode Island budgets.

Moreover, this small portion of Boucher’s op-ed represents a flat-out falsehood. “Leadership in the House” has hardly “refused to address” the immigration issue. In fact, conservatives are currently up-in-arms over the House Republican plan to lock arms with the Democrats when it comes to this issue.

Geez. Pick up a newspaper, Jonathan.

If nothing else, Boucher’s piece served to confirm what many have been suspecting: Rhode Island Democrats are out of ideas. Their only answer to the fact that – in the sixth year of Obama’s presidency – the economy has yet to be revived is to enact evermore socialism; to secure current levels of “stimulus” spending in the form of a federal pipeline that leads to Smith Hill.

But according to Boucher, the election of Republican “freshmen” to our federal delegation “would only make it worse,” because it would mean the severing of this umbilical cord. “Our state would receive less federal funding and we would be at a significant disadvantage compared with other states with more senior representation,” the Democrat contended.

So there you have it. Rhode Island needs its fix of DC cash, lest the state will surely wither.

Nice work, Democrats.

Again, however, Boucher contends all of this while simultaneously denying it: “At the end of the day, the mark of good legislators…[is] how well they represent their constituents and how hard they fight for their interests in Congress.”

To that idea, Rhode Islanders shouldn’t send politicians to Washington who only know how to siphon a portion of their tax dollars back to the State House, only to be divvied up by government wizards atop Smith Hill. They should elect people with conservative principles; people who know how to revive the economy and expand opportunity; people who would lead in the restructuring of Rhode Island’s economic fundamentals; people who would fight for the principle of being allowed to keep more of what you earn; people who would eradicate the need for such federal siphoning in the first place.

Travis Rowley (TravisRowley.com) is the author of The RI Republican: An Indictment of the Rhode Island Left

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While Anthony Gemma’s highly anticipated press conference was certainly compelling, it remains unclear whether or not it will be enough to sink Congressman David Cicilline’s re-election hopes. At the very least, however, it seems Gemma is in possession of convincing evidence of large-scale voter fraud that would incriminate high-level officers within Cicilline’s inner circle.

The consequences of silence were on parade this week when Channel 10 aired a report titled “Same-Sex Marriage Could Help RI Economy.” The premise for saying so is that many people, while decidedly against the passage of a gay marriage bill, have been entirely bullied out of the controversy – and that this has resulted in a growing confusion over how to even begin defending traditional values.

Regarding the Board of Governors for Higher Education, I had the chance to attend its meeting on Monday night, and also the chance to observe the body of teenage students – some illegal aliens, and some devoted friends – that you were a part of.

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It is no secret that both the conservative and the liberal often charge the other with ignorance, a natural imputation for those with whom one disagrees. You don’t know what I know. And that’s why you disagree with me.

Reverend Brian Sistare, the pastor at Sacred Heart Parish in Woonsocket, is currently denying Holy Communion to Lew Pryeor and Pierre Leveillee, a gay couple who are members of Sacred Heart’s regular congregation.